Aug 10 time for some national direction

My own professional philosophy around the structure of schools includes the importance of middle schools or junior highs as they are sometimes known. These are school catering for years 7 to 9 or 10. My experience and research indicates this is the best way to cater for the educational and social needs of this age group. Forming large year 7 to 13 high schools does not do justice to these needs on so many levels.

I think generally speaking we can teach the American's a thing or two about education and teaching. However I like this quote from a recent article published in The Press,

Although loath to admit it, she prefers the system of junior and senior high schools in the United States. There, pupils are in middle or junior high school, from the age of about 10 until 14 or 15, when they graduate to senior high

Unfortualtely we (NZ) don't have a coherent approach to the structure of our schools. You can travel to 5 different towns and see 5 different schooling arrangements. Which to me speaks about to no clear philosophy about what schooling should look like in NZ.

Read the Press article and even the NZCER report. Maybe the last word should be left to one of the children quoted in the research.

"The learning was good at primary and intermediate," a teenage tearaway says. "At secondary school, everything changed."

Based in Queenstown, New Zealand, To The Future and Beyond is a blog by Ben Witheford. I post on the nature of learning, the complexity and simplicity of leadership and anything else that captures my attention.